The Bronson East area is underlain by an undivided group of sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Upper Triassic to Jurassic age, which are intruded by Mesozoic marginal phases of the Coast Plutonic Complex.
The stratified rocks are comprised of submarine to sub-aerial fragmental volcanic rocks that are interlayered with a sequence of argillite, banded siltstone, greywacke, conglomerate and minor limestone. The rocks in the area of the Wolverine area are mapped as part of Upper Triassic Stuhini Group. Lower Jurassic Hazelton Group rocks are mapped to the west and east.
Structurally, the rocks have a general northwest trend and have been regionally metamorphosed to the greenschist facies. The rocks are strongly deformed and are cut by numerous north to northeast trending faults and fractures.
The property is underlain by an interbedded sequence of southwest dipping sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks. The sedimentary rocks are characterized by thinly laminated grey to brown siltstones, shales and 1 to 3 metre wide beds of greywacke. Higher in the succession, the sequence is characterized by tuffs and lapilli tuffs of intermediate to mafic composition. Numerous granodiorite and lesser hornblende and aplite dyke-like apophyses of the Coast Plutonic Complex intrude both the siltstone and pyroclastic units. Alteration within the volcano-sedimentary sequence consists of local silicification and biotization adjacent to the intrusives as well as quartz and quartz-calcite veining, which are concordant to bedding, also related to the intrusives.
The main showings, examined in 1988 by Cathedral Gold Corporation, are located within a bright 75 by 100 metre gossan, centered around a 10 metre thick, fresh, unaltered granodiorite dike. The area has been affected by complex faulting, downfaulting a wedge of tuffs into the siltstone-greywacke sequence which underlies much of the lower elevations of the Bronson Valley. It appears that the fresh granodiorite dike is intruded along a northeast trending shear zone which provided a zone of weakness. The showing consists of 'pods' of massive sulphide mineralization oriented trending in a northwesterly direction. Most pods range from 0.5 to l metre wide and up to 5 metres long. It is possible that the northeast trending shear has disrupted the northwesterly trending veins.
The discontinuous veins and veinlets consist of quartz, pyrite, sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite that infill fractures in tuffaceous siltstones and argillites. A 1 metre wide, northwest trending, massive sulphide vein exposed in a creek bed assayed 6.9 grams per tonne gold, 29.1 grams per tonne silver, 21.50 per cent zinc and 0.38 per cent copper (Assessment Report 16891).
The T-Zone Showing is located approximately 150 metres northwest of the Bronson East Showing. The showing is exposed in a creek bed where the creek makes a sharp bend. The T-Zone is comprised of two parallel mineralized structures approximately 10 meters apart. The Lower Zone is the most significant of the two. In 1988 two trenches, approximately 8 metres apart, exposed the Lower T-Zone showing. A smaller trench attempted to expose the Upper T-Zone showing but the overlying clay bank collapsed on the trench area during the blast.
The Lower T-Zone Showing is comprised of a massive sulphide-quartz lode 1 to 1.5 metres thick underlain by a 5 metre wide pyrite stringer zone. The massive sulphide lode strikes at approximately 120 degrees and dips 45-50 degrees southwesterly. The lode is comprised of 85 per cent sulphide consisting largely of pyrrhotite, with noticeable chalcopyrite, pyrite and sphalerite. A grab from the Lower T-Zone assayed 16.9 grams per tonne gold, 6.4 grams per tonne silver and 0.22 per cent copper (Assessment Report 19001).
Work History
The Bronson property was staked in 1983 by Mr. Chris Graf as part of the much larger Gossan property which extended a further 15 kilometres southeast. In 1983, Lonestar Resources (Bending, 1984) completed an extensive regional mapping, silt and soil sampling program over the entire Gossan property. During this program a line of soil and silt samples was taken along the north and south slopes of the Bronson Creek Valley including the present Bronson Property. This soil and silt program returned several anomalous gold values. The Bronson East and Wolverine showings were also discovered during this program.
In 1987 Western Canadian completed a geological mapping, rock chip sampling and soil sampling program over most of the Bronson property. This program included a 100 by 25 metre soil sampling grid along the north side of the Bronson Creek Valley in the vicinity of the Bronson East showing. The survey returned many anomalous gold values most of which were located beneath or south of the Bronson East Showing.
In 1988, under option from owner Western Canadian Mining Corp, Cathedral Gold Corporation conducted a program of linecutting, geophysical surveys (28 kilometres of VLF and 20 kilometres of ground magnetics), soil sampling, prospecting (137 rock) and trenching (30 metres) was completed on the Gossan 15, 17, 23 and 30 mineral claims. During 1988, Cathedral Gold discovered the T-zone, located about 150 metres northwest of the Bronson East showings. Five rock samples were taken in the Wolverine (104B 206) area in 1988. The remainder of the work was done on the Bronson East-T zone area and the gridded area northeast of the Wolverine.
